Gibraltar is a small British enclave on the southern coast of Spain. It's famous for the rock, the only european wild baboons and of course one of the most prestigious chess tournaments of the annual calendar.
The prize fund was truly exceptional for an open with a total of 112,500 pounds sterling.
This could be broken down as follows (all figures refer to pounds sterling).
| 1st Prize | 15,000 |
| 2nd Prize | 10,000 |
| 3rd Prize | 7,000 |
| 4th Prize | 5,000 |
| 5th Prize | 4,000 |
| 6th Prize | 3,000 |
| 7th Prize | 2,500 |
| 8th Prize | 2,000 |
| 9th Prize | 1,500 |
| 10th Prize | 1,250 |
| 11th Prize | 1,000 |
| 12th Prize | 1,000 |
There were 33 grandmasters including 6 women. The highest-ranking being Etienne Bacrot (France) with a 2713 rating.
However prizes for lower-ranking players were also not bad.
Prizes for best relative rating achievement.
| Rating Band | 1st Prize | 2nd Prize |
| 2500-2599 | 3,000 | 2,000 |
| 2400-2499 | 2,000 | 1,000 |
| 2300-2399 | 2,000 | 1,000 |
| 2200-2299 | 2,000 | 1,000 |
| Under 2200 | 2,000 | 1,000 |
Many leading women took part as they have a special prize fund, for example the current world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova. The number two female on the FIDE list, the Indian Humpy Koneru, was also present
Open to all Women
| 1st Prize | 8,000 |
| 2nd Prize | 4,000 |
| 3rd Prize | 3,000 |
| 4th Prize | 2,500 |
| 5th Prize | 2,000 |
| 6th Prize | 1,500 |
| 7th Prize | 1,000 |
| 8th Prize | 500 |
In case of a tie the highest rating performance takes the 8000 pounds!
Last round pairings and results:
| 1 | GM Gustafsson,Jan | 7.0 | GER | 2627 | 0.5-0.5 | GM Movsesian,Sergei | 7.0 | SVK | 2708 |
| 2 | GM Vallejo Pons,Francisco | 7.0 | ESP | 2705 | 0.5-0.5 | GM Adams,Michael | 7.0 | ENG | 2694 |
| 3 | GM Bacrot,Etienne | 6.5 | FRA | 2713 | 1-0 | GM Cramling,Pia | 6.5 | SWE | 2528 |
| 4 | GM Bindrich,Falko | 6.5 | GER | 2512 | 0-1 | GM Kamsky,Gata | 6.5 | USA | 2693 |
| 5 | WGM Zhukova,Natalia | 6.5 | UKR | 2462 | 0.5-0.5 | GM Fressinet,Laurent | 6.5 | FRA | 2670 |
| 6 | GM Fridman,Daniel | 6.5 | GER | 2654 | 0-1 | IM Lenderman,Alex | 6.5 | USA | 2560 |
| 7 | IM Javakhishvili,Lela | 6.5 | GEO | 2493 | 0-1 | GM Sandipan,Chanda | 6.5 | IND | 2622 |
| 8 | IM Boskovic,Drasko | 6.5 | SRB | 2454 | 0.5-0.5 | GM Koneru,Humpy | 6.5 | IND | 2614 |
| 9 | GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal | 6.5 | IND | 2584 | 1-0 | GM Stefanova,Antoaneta | 6.5 | BUL | 2545 |
| 10 | IM Kapnisis,Spyridon | 6.0 | GRE | 2510 | 0-1 | GM Cheparinov,Ivan | 6.0 | BUL | 2660 |
The four leading players (on 7.5/10 and having the best tie-breaks) played for the big prize of 15000 pounds! The two-game semi-finals were played with 10 minutes plus 10 second increments and then (if necessary) an Armageddon game to decide.
Here are the results:
| GM Gustafsson, Jan | GER | 2627 | 1-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | GM Adams, Michael | ENG | 2694 |
| GM Vallejo Pons,Francisco | ESP | 2705 | 1-0 | 0.5-0.5 | GM Sandipan, Chanda | IND | 2622 |
After winning the Armageddon game Adams played Spanish GM Vallejo Pons.
| GM Adams,Michael | ENG | 2694 | 1-0 | 0.5-0.5 | GM Vallejo Pons,Francisco | ESP | 2705 |
Humpy Koneru won the women's challenge by drawing in the last round. Koneru and Stefanova both played very long games finishing after 6 hours or so.
For further information:official site
